Demonstration of compact integrated polymeric wavelength division multiplexer

Summary form only given. The potential increase in capacity and flexibility of future optical networks offered by WDM is dependent upon the availability of cheap, reliable and robust components for routing and switching. The recent emergence of low loss, thermally stable polymers has led to a surge in interest in the application of polymer technology to meet the expected demand. Polymer materials offer cheap, low temperature processing of high quality low loss waveguide structures. They allow ease of manufacture on a variety of substrates and material characteristics such as refractive index and absorption that may be engineered to suit specific applications.